During the inkjet printing process, an inkjet ink comprising (1) an ink vehicle, comprising one or more solvents, and (2) a colorant, such as a dye or pigment, is introduced to the inkjet receiving layer(s) of an inkjet recording media. Specifically, in an effort to generate color prints that are photographic-like (e.g., of silver halide quality), glossy print media have been developed that comprise one or more ink-receiving layers on non-absorbent substrates.
The inkjet receiving layers absorb the ink vehicle delivered during the printing process. However, when the ink-receiving layer is applied to a non-absorbent substrate, the substrate provides no absorption capacity and as a result, the ink-receiving layer must be the sole absorbing and protective material.
Various solutions have been advanced for protecting the ink-receiving layer, such as laminating the print media or providing a topcoat or film. An example of a topcoat is called Thermal Transfer Overcoat (TTO), which uses a separate film that is fused to the media using heat and pressure. This is typically done with a heated roller.
There is a need for inexpensively sealing glossy print media to provide a printed product that is virtually indistinguishable from silver halide photographic prints.